The Hindu Business Line : Women’s wear brand ‘W’ on expansion mode

New Delhi, Aug. 29 ‘W’, the premium ready-to-wear women’s wear brand, is on an aggressive expansion spree and will invest Rs 50 crore in the next two years to have a pan-India presence, through both premium as well as budget brands.

“The brand ‘W’ is moving ahead rapidly ever since it was established in 2002. It has been able to carve a niche for itself in the ready-to-wear market with its innovative styling that couples international fashion trends with day-to-day functionality,” said Mr Vijay K. Mishra, CEO, ‘W’.

The company intends to change the brand positioning from that meant for the contemporary Indian woman fusion wear, to more fashion oriented, changing with fashion trends. “Over the last few years we understood that our target audience, the contemporary Indian woman, needs more than the fusion wear we were presenting her with. She needs to be trendy and at par with the current trends. Therefore, we are committed to responding to the increasing demand in the market and have decided to extensively increase our presence in the country, as a complete wardrobe solution for her,” said Mr Mishra. The company plans to expand its retail presence this year to 200 points of sale across 30 cities and 45 exclusive brand stores across 25 cities.

Ethnic wear

Meanwhile, as part of its expansion plans, it has also forayed into the budget ethnic women’s wear segment through its brand Weve. The company has entered into a strategic alliance with Reliance Retail to sell Weve through the retail giant’s hypermarket and speciality format stores. “There has been a lot of movement in the budget ethnic women’s wear segment in the market since last year. The segment has become more organised and we thought it was the right time for us to enter the segment,” said Mr Mishra. The advantage of partnering with Reliance is that the company would not have to invest mind or money on space and related logistics and can focus all energies on developing the brand, he added.

The budget brand will not have any standalone stores and will only be present through Reliance Retail’s stores. “In Reliance’s stores in smaller cities our in-shop presence will be around 250 sq ft while in bigger cities we will cover around 450 sq ft of shop area,” said Mr Mishra. The brand is priced at a range between Rs 250 to Rs 495 and is targeted at the middle class modern woman. “In the second phase of developing the brand Weve we will look at accessories and other additions,” he added.

The company that clocked around Rs 30 crore as turnover last fiscal is aiming to achieve the Rs 60-crore mark by next year and the Rs 140-crore mark by 2009.

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